Memory Place, along the north side of 125th between Stone and Ashworth, could be described in a single word: challenging. It was challenging to envision, to create, to manufacture, to install, and to photograph. Strolling slowly along from Ashworth to Stone, stopping at each of the five "gateway panels" to note the shapes, texts, and images, is challenging.

Daniel Winterbottom, who conceived and created this project, spoke to the Broadview Historical Society at their May meeting about his work. The first challenge he reported was the site: initially 600 feet long and only 6 inches wide. The sidewalk, drainage ditch and fence were already installed. "I was a marsh, I was a burn dump, I was a lumber yard, I am a parking lot" reads part of the first Panel or gateway.

The second challenge he reported was finding texts for the panels. The panels were not intended to be pages in a book or a history. Rather they combine commentary and history with form to move back and forth between memory and the place as it is now. What did it feel like to be here? What does it feel like now?

Winterbottom found materials at the Haller Lake Community Club, the King County Archives and through the school district. They were uncategorized and disorganized. It was not until the artist met people who could tell him stories about living in the area over time that the piece began to take shape. Memories shaped selection of the forms and texts and placement along the walkway.

The easternmost gateway panel sketches the shape of Oak Lake School, an early structure in the area. The westernmost gateway panel highlights a view of Playland which closed in 1961 and outlines the famous roller coaster. "A Million Dollars of Fun for Only a Dime".

Another challenge was construction. About halfway through the project, Winterbottom reported, the rules changed and it became necessary to "vandal proof" the installation. The careful enamelling looks just right to me, but it was an unexpected hurdle for the artist. And then there was the question of construction and maintenance. It's good to see that the grass has been cut carefully and the bamboo along the fence seems to be growing.

I visit this installation for inspiration about the place that is between Haller Lake and Broadview, the place about which the Vision 2020 group is trying to create a neighborhood plan. Once, I see from Memory Place, this place was where "the tall green waiting station with its sign 'North Park" and its wood plank platform" was the Interurban stop. Once it was home to Palladium Bowl, Everstate Dance Hall, and, of course, Playland. Once there were "sidewalks, two sidewalks. They were made of planks but they served as pedestrian thoroughfares. . .clear to Haller Lake on the east and Greenwood Avenue on the west." My thanks to Daniel Winterbottom and all the many people who helped make Memory Place.

The Broadview Historical Society meets on the third Thursday of every month at about noon at the Broadview Library.